Rotary tooth-brush.



G. L/PHILLIPS. ROTARY TOOTH BRUSH.

APPLICATION nun JUNE 8, 1908.

Patented Aug. 17, 1909.

. get er.

-' v upon the handle to close the end of the same. This cap has an openmg in its center surrounded by an outward rojectin flange b.

Hrs, a citizen of the United States, residing specification.

' tion or stop it altogether.

' at a to form a bearing for the brush shaft brush shaft. At its other end the handle A CHARLES- LEE PHILLIPS, or nonnouninnw YORK.

ROTARY Tom-BRUSH.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 17, 1909.

Application filed June 8, 1908. Serial No. 437,461.

Tog'all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Creams Len Pun.-

at' Rondout, in the county of Ulster and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rotary Tooth-Brushes, of which the following is a My invention relates to brushes and more particularly to rotarybrushes of a character used for cleaning'te'eth and for like ob ects, wherein mechanism is provided conmeeting with the handle of'the' brush whereby the brush may be rapidly rotated.

Theobject of m invention is to provide a brush of this c ass wherein the motive power iscarried within the handle of the brush, wherein the brush is rotated in one direction, and wherein the speed of rotation ma be slackn'ed' at will or stopped alto- To these ends my invention consists in providing a brush. of this character with a spring" motor in the handle acting upon the shaft carrying the brush, and in also prov1da brake contacting with the shaft and acting either to slacken its speed of rota- I have shown an embodiment of my inventlon in the accompanying drawings wherem Figure 1, is an elevation of the brush, certa n portions of the casing being broken away to show the driving and brake mechan- 1sm.' Fig. 2, is a side elevation of the ehd of the brush. Fig 3, is an'enlarged transyerse sectionon line 33 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4:, 1s a transverse section on line 4-4 of Fig. 1, and Fig. 5, is a detail erspective.

In the drawings A esignates a cylindrical or tubular handle, narrowed at one end as and extended as at A to form a ard plate which prevents contact of the rush with portions of the mouth other than the teeth. 'ThlS ext n sion A is semicylindrical in cross section and the end thereof, as at A, is turned upward to forma bearing" for the is provided with, a cap B, which screws down designates the longitudinal; rush-car rymg shaft which extends'the full length Surrounding the B and on It will be seen that by of the handle, which is supported in the upsupported at its rear end in the manner to behereafter described, and which may .also

have a bearing in the contractedportion a. shaft (1 is thecoiled spring D which practically entirely fills the barrel 4 A of the handle fronr its rear to its forward end. At this forward end the spr ng Djis attached'to the shaft as at 0. The-spring at its rear end is attached to the ratchet which is tubular as shown in Fig. 3,.and is mounted upon a tubular spindlee. This tubular spindle is screw threaded on its exterior to engage with thescrew threaded spindle of the knurled head F. A-spring pawl G is riveted to the interior of the cap ages with theteeth of the ratchet E. The siaft C passes through the hollow center of the ratchet E and i'sreoeived within the hollow spindle e as will be seen in l t will be obvious that by turning the head F, the spring will be rotated and wound up, around the shaft G, provided the shaft 1s held from rotation. For this purpose I have provided the 'sto button H having a slotted shank H, and ead H the button being normally ,pushed out from the position shown, in Fig. 4, by the sprmg I with which the shank of the button through the head H is engaged. The shank H is slotted as at h, the upper end of the slot being curved and the'lower end of the shank having a head H provided with a tooth k. The shaft C is likewise provided with a ratchet casing in the tooth 11' adapted to engage the detent'" tooth and prevent the shaft om rotating. Of course the tooth i and the teeth on theratchen wheel E are inclined in opposite directlons. t s construct-ion a rotation of thehead F will actto wind up the sring as before-explained, the hollow spind e e and the ratchet E. rotatingl freely upon the rear end of the shaft. C. T e awl G revents any backward rotation o the spring y ratchet. When it is desired to use the brush, provided 'the necessary to shaft W111 be and will be rotated.

It is necessary of course that there should depress the button H when the be some means of checking the speed of the.

shaft and to that end I have provided the curved upper end of the slot it. As the but-,

released from the detent' h'" engaging with the teeth of .the

spring is wound up, it is only slot will frictionally engage with the shaft to check the speed thereof. It is obvious that by this means the shaft may be slowed down to any required degree or allowed to rotate with the full strength of the spring. The detent tooth h is placed at one side of the shank H, so that thetooth 11 in its rotation will not contact with the upper end of the slot and give a reciprocating motion to the shank and button. I do not wish to be limited to this particular construction however, as a support may be provided onthe shank for the tooth i in many other ways.

While I prefer to use my invention in the manufacture of tooth brushes and have so shown it, I do not wish to be limited thereto as it is capable of use for other purposes, and the construction may be modified to these ends without departing from the spirit of my invention as heretofore described.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a rotary brush, a tubular handle, a shaft mounted therein, a spring surrounding the shaftand connected at one end thereto I and means for winding up said spring, a

stop button on said handle, a tooth on said.

shaft, and means connected wit h said button for engaging said tooth-when the button is in one position to hold the shaft againstrotation-and for releasing said shaft when the button is in anothe position, substantially as described. a

2. In a rotary brush a tubular handle and a shaft mounted therein, in combination with a spring for driving said shaftand means for winding said spring, a button on said handle, a shank on said button, said shank having a slot to receive said shaft, a tooth on said shaft adjacent said shank, a detent at the end of said shank, means for normally holding said detent in the path of wheel 011 its interior end, the rear end of said shaft being carried within the tubular ratchet and spindle, a pawl mounted on the interior of the cap adapted to engage with the ratchet wheel, and means for preventing the rotation of the shaft while the head and ratcli'et' are being turned and the spring wound.

4. In a rotary brush, a tubular handle, a shaft within said handle carrying the brush at one end, a spring surrounding said shaft attached to the shaft at one end and at the other provided with winding means, and a speed checking stop consisting of a slotted shank through which said shaft passes having a head at one end and provided with a spring at its other end, said shank carrying a detent tooth, and the shaft being provided with a ratchet tooth with which the detent tooth will enga e, said slot being rounded at one end and adapted to have frictional engagement with said shaft to check the motion of the same.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES LEE PHILLIPS.

Witnesses:

J AY E. KLooK, WILLIAM C. SGH-ROEDER. 

